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The mechanism of the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction. The ratio of alkene isomers 5 and 6 is not dependent upon the stereochemical outcome of the initial carbanion addition and upon the ability of the intermediates to equilibrate. The electron-withdrawing group (EWG) alpha to the phosphonate is necessary for the final elimination to occur.
William D. Emmons (November 18, 1924 – December 8, 2001) was an American chemist and published with William S. Wadsworth a modification to the Wittig-Horner reaction using phosphonate-stabilized carbanions, now called the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction in his honor.
In the related Michaelis–Arbuzov reaction the same reactants are known to form a beta-keto phosphonate which is an important reagent in the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction on the road to alkenes. The Perkow reaction, in this respect is considered a side-reaction.
Leopold Horner (24 August 1911 – 5 October 2005) was a German chemist who published a modified Wittig reaction using phosphonate-stabilized carbanions now called the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction (HWE reaction) or Horner-Wittig reaction.
Triethyl phosphonoacetate is a reagent for organic synthesis used in the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction (HWE) or the Horner-Emmons modification. Triethyl phosphonoacetate can be added dropwise to sodium methoxide solution to prepare a phosphonate anion. It has an acidic proton that can easily be abstracted by a weak base.
The Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction is a widely used olefination reaction in which a phosphonate-stabilized carbanion reacts with an aldehyde or ketone to form an alkene. In the standard HWE reaction, the phosphonate ester contains alkoxy substituents (typically methoxy or ethoxy), producing an E -alkene as the major product.
In the final steps a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction (methyl 2-(diethy1phosphono)acetate) give acrylate ester 12 as a mixture of cis and trans isomers which could be coached into the right (trans) direction by application of light in a photochemical rearrangement, the ester group was reduced (DIBAL / boron trifluoride) to isostrychnine 13 ...
It is however less reactive than ylides lacking EWGs. For example they usually fail to react with ketones, necessitating the use of the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction as an alternative. Such stabilized ylides usually give rise to an E-alkene product when they react, rather than the more usual Z-alkene.